The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 162

162. An Unexpected Reunion (2)

Jin Jaehee’s eyes darted wildly.

“Hoseung, you.”

She rushed forward and embraced the collapsed Hoseung.

Whack-!

His body was as cold as embracing a large piece of thin ice.

His body was trembling.

Jaehee was on the verge of tears, but she first checked on his well-being.

At her actions, the prisoners around them slowly backed away. Jaehee continued to check Hoseung’s condition.

“Are you okay? You……!”

There wasn’t a single part of his body that was unscathed.

It didn’t look like injuries caused simply by being trampled by prisoners.

From whip marks to burns, he was missing three or four teeth, and one eye was gone.

He looked like someone who had been a slave for a long time.

Jaehee grabbed Hoseung’s shoulders and said in a sorrowful voice.

“Hoseung…… Hoseung, what happened to your body? What happened? And…… the others? Minji, Cheolho. Didn’t they come with you?”

At that moment, Hoseung’s low, sunken voice was heard.

“……Is this a dream?”

Jaehee flinched at the voice.

Hoseung’s one eye still had no focus and was shaking aimlessly.

After their initial eye contact, Hoseung kept avoiding Jaehee’s gaze.

“At first…… I looked for you…… Well, you. You never woke up unless I woke you up in the same room…….”

Hoseung’s weak voice echoed sadly through the prison.

“No matter how much I knocked on the door, you weren’t there…… We thought you were dead…… Because you weren’t there. What would the kids do…… They were so sad. Heartbroken. I guess they needed you more than we thought…….”

“…….”

Jin Jaehee listened to him in silence.

In her past life, she had survived the rounds with her friends.

Even if she wasn’t a regressor, she had the power of an S-class artifact and survived by being active in the sphere of influence in that area.

Of course, none of Jin Jaehee’s other friends were chosen by the artifact.

So, most of them found things they could do under her protection.

But in the apocalypse, Jin Jaehee’s absence was too great for them.

The relationship spiraled into destruction.

Like any other runaways, they desperately fled from monsters and crazy people, but there was a limit to that.

Friends who were as close as family all died, and Lee Hoseung, who finally survived, wandered around like a madman, was captured as a slave, and finally came to this place.

This was the result of Jin Jaehee’s choice.

If she had stayed by their side, this misfortune would not have happened.

Lee Hoseung swallowed his sobs and said.

“……Why are you here?”

“…….”

“How long have I been looking for you…… Cheolho was looking for you and……! Cough!”

Hoseung couldn’t finish his last words and coughed up blood.

Hoseung wasn’t resenting Jaehee for not protecting them.

He was resenting her for disappearing so suddenly.

The hand holding Hoseung lost strength and fell to the floor.

Instead, Hoseung now strongly grabbed her top.

“Where did you go? Where did you go? We decided to always be together now…… Why…… Why did you disappear without a word…… Why…… Why…….”

“…….”

“You can tell me…… You can come back…… You would have survived. In this damn world. But why didn’t you come back…… Why…… Are we on bad terms?”

She had expected it.

The day she regressed, when she first came up from Busan to Anyang.

She knew that her future would be changed by this action.

Even if her friends died, she was prepared to accept it.

At the end of it, her grand dream of returning everything to its original state was waiting.

It’s just a bad dream.

She kept brainwashing herself that it was a bad dream that wouldn’t end.

But facing the death of a friend.

No matter how many thousands of times she had made up her mind, it was difficult to endure.

“I’m sorry…….”

Even uttering that one word was unbearable pain for Jin Jaehee.

A huge sadness that could not be defined by voice or thought came over her.

Jin Jaehee only lowered her eyes and looked at his profile.

She wanted to make an excuse.

She wasn’t being chased by anyone, but she said urgently.

“It’s okay now. Because I met you again…… Now I’ll…… you……!”

At that moment, Lee Hoseung interrupted her.

“No.”

The atmosphere sank even further the moment Lee Hoseung denied it.

“Nothing’s okay. It’s all over. Minji, Cheolho, parents. The studio we used to go to. The dreams we had together…….”

Only then did Hoseung look at her with tearful eyes.

The two stared at each other for a while.

“……It’s all over.”

Hoseung muttered as he broke away from Jaehee’s arms and got up from his seat.

He wasn’t really talking to anyone.

It was a word Hoseung had been saying like a habit for the past five years.

“Please kill me, someone. Please.”

Then he walked weakly towards the opposite wall.

The prisoners, who had been silently watching the two, naturally made way, and Hoseung leaned against the wall and sat down.

He was still with his head down.

Like someone who was breathing irregularly and slowly dying.

Jin Jaehee remained in her place and bit her lower lip hard.

Until blood dripped down and formed on her chin.

Today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, the two did not talk again.

* * *

“Your companion went to the 3rd Ward?!”

The bald woman asked back in surprise.

Choi Hyunji nodded and said.

“Is it that dangerous there?”

“Of course! That’s where all the vicious criminals go. Damn criminals.”

As the bald woman gritted her teeth, Choi Hyunji thought her words were not very convincing.

The bald woman was also locked up here for committing a crime.

Of course, she was unfairly imprisoned.

She tore off a piece of bread and ate it, then continued.

“But in the end, you have to win 7 times in the Colosseum to be acquitted and get out of here, right?”

“That’s right. Basically, they receive resources, but people like me are a little different. They say that only impatient guys can rot in prison for the rest of their lives, so they run out and die first.”

“That’s true…… I know. I don’t understand why they risk their lives to go out when they can just not go to the arena.”

“That’s right. That’s right. I don’t understand. Life here is pretty good once you get used to it.”

“I know. I know. Someone will take us out.”

Choi Hyunji put the last piece of bread in her mouth and looked at the iron bars on the other side.

There, Choi Myungjoon, shirtless, was exercising with a man sitting on his back.

Choi Hyunji called him casually.

“Hey. Pig.”

“Hoo-. Hiss!”

Choi Myungjoon, called Pig, didn’t even pretend to listen to her and raised his upper body again.

“Hey, you. Pig!”

“Don’t talk to me. Woman. I’m going to get out of here.”

“Didn’t you hear her? She said you’ll almost die if you go to the Colosseum.”

“Shut up. I’m sick of prison now.”

For Choi Myungjoon, prison was truly a disgusting place.

He was only thinking of getting out of here as soon as possible and going to meet Kang Si-on.

“Then you have to use your head. Your head. Hey, Pig. Stop it.”

“Shut up. I can’t concentrate.”

“Hey-! Listen to me!”

“Shut up.”

“Ugh-! Is your brain full of muscles? You moron.”

“Moron is working out. Shut up when I’m being nice.”

Choi Myungjoon put his strength back into lowering his upper body.

His muscles were shaking as if they were alive.

“……Ah. I really can’t communicate.”

Choi Hyunji scratched her head.

She had been constantly thinking about escaping since she was locked up here.

Choi Hyunji had a plan of her own.

But to carry out that plan, she needed Choi Myungjoon’s strength.

Choi Myungjoon didn’t listen to Choi Hyunji.

“Okay-! Go and die! Do it yourself!”

Choi Hyunji turned her gaze away from him, feeling annoyed for no reason.

But she soon glanced at him again and muttered.

“Idiot…….”

* * *

‘What is it?’

A drop of water hanging precariously from the ceiling finally fell to the floor.

The water droplet met a small puddle and created a wave.

Jin Jaehee, looking at her reflection in the puddle, thought.

‘What the hell is it?’

Then she slightly raised her head and looked at Lee Hoseung, who was lying on the other side.

Since coming here, Lee Hoseung had been lying curled up like someone who had given up on life, only breathing weakly.

He barely sipped water and didn’t eat food.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand his feelings.

She herself had felt a great sense of loss when she lost him in her past life.

But what is this thing about rejecting her now? It’s not like he’s sulking.

It was like looking at a young younger brother.

Feeling frustrated, Jin Jaehee jumped up from her seat.

“Hic-! I, I’m sorry!”

“Ah, I didn’t peek!”

For no reason, the other prisoners were terrified and cowered.

Regardless of how the prisoners reacted, Jin Jaehee walked towards him.

Lee Hoseung felt something huge was approaching him, and he only raised his head while curled up.

And.

Thump-!

“How long are you going to be like that? How long.”

Jin Jaehee grabbed Hoseung’s collar and pulled him up.

Hoseung, flustered by her sudden action, stammered.

“Wh, what are you doing?!”

“How long are you going to be a cripple?”

“What’s it to you……? Whatever I do. Mind your own business!”

“Idiot.”

Thwack!

Jin Jaehee kicked Hoseung in the shin.

Hoseung writhed on the floor in more pain than necessary.

“Agh! Ack!”

Jaehee shouted at him in excitement.

“So what! What do you want me to do! I had my reasons, didn’t I? And wherever I go alone, whatever I do! I’ll take care of it myself. Are you my dad or something? Why are you interfering?”

Jaehee shouted strongly, but after losing her father in the fire, she was very depressed as if she had lost the whole world.

Like Hoseung now, she didn’t eat unless her friends took care of her, and she stayed in her room all day without coming out.

So Hoseung and his friends took care of Jaehee every day without fail.

So Jaehee suddenly disappeared…….

“This gorilla-like……! The habit is coming out. I…… I told you. Fix that personality that goes out with your fists first. You can’t have a social life.”

“Don’t interfere.”

“What did I……! Who was the one who was locked up in the room all day like they were going to die!”

“Who asked you to interfere?”

“If I don’t interfere! If I don’t interfere! Are you telling me to just watch you die?!”

“I told you I’ll take care of it myself. I told you!”

Jaehee shouted as if she was wronged, and Hoseung had no intention of losing either.

The two started yelling at each other.

It was a common scene between old friends.

Because they were friends, they overlooked the usual minor mistakes, but once it exploded, the accumulated complaints burst out like a flood.

“Take care of it yourself?! I packed you food every day, and I even did your laundry! You were just locked up in the blanket all day. And Minji helped me wash you!”

“Wh, what……?! When did I……?!”

Jaehee’s cheeks turned red at Hoseung’s decisive blow.

“Okay. Okay. If you’re going to be a jerk even if I take care of you, I should have just left you alone. Whether you die or not.”

Hoseung only said that and walked back.

Jin Jaehee, who had balled her fists, breathed roughly.

And she shouted at him as he turned back.

“So! I’m doing it too! Now……!”

At that honest word, Hoseung stopped for a moment and looked back at Jaehee.

At that moment, Jin Jaehee, who couldn’t stand it anymore, grabbed Hoseung’s collar even more roughly and pushed him against the wall.

Bang-!

Jin Jaehee stared straight into Hoseung’s frightened face with her eyes wide open.

The two faced each other closely, looking into each other’s eyes.

Jaehee swallowed her emotions and said.

“Look at me. Look at me.”

At Jaehee’s words to look at her, Hoseung’s eyes scanned her face.

“Is it over?”

“What……?”

“Is it over for us!”

“It’s over…… I lost everything. Everything…….”

“What’s over? Nothing’s over. I’m alive. You’re alive too. Okay. I’ll be honest. After my father died, I honestly couldn’t find a reason to live. But the person who left is gone. I decided to accept my father’s death. You said that, didn’t you? You idiot. You said that now you can lose your father and live my life……? Do you know how much strength that gave me?”

Hoseung’s eyes shook.

“But look at you now. Your words and actions are different. We met. We’re both alive. We can live properly from now on. Even if it’s damn, survive, even if it’s X-like, survive, even if it’s trampling on others!!! Life is about enduring anyway, my father always said. So endure. You idiot. Grit your teeth and endure. Like the words you said to me. Yes. Like you guys helped me when I was dying…….”

“…….”

Slide-.

Jaehee’s hand holding Hoseung’s collar slipped out.

Jaehee’s hands naturally grabbed Hoseung’s shoulders, and she put her forehead on his solar plexus and whispered.

“Don’t show me your weak side, at least you. At least you…….”

Jaehee’s voice gradually faded.

A silence followed for a while.

Jaehee and Hoseung, and all the prisoners locked in iron bars, were all silent.

But Jin Jaehee didn’t know.

That her words just now touched the hearts of the prisoners.

At that time, the iron door opened and armed guards began to pop out.

Jaehee and Hoseung looked at the guards, and the guard glanced at the 3rd Ward and shouted.

“It’s a match! From now on, the gladiators whose names are called, come forward and prepare.”

The guard began to call out the names in order.

The person whose name was called turned pale.

Among those names were Jin Jaehee and Lee Hoseung.

(To be continued in the next episode)